How Students View the Teacher Lecture

This week’s article summary Lessons in Learning--a follow-up to last week’s summary Why Does Teacher Talk Still Dominate the Classroom—focuses on Harvard research about students believing that teacher lecture is the most effective classroom pedagogy for learning.

However, once students are presented with empirical evidence that they actually learn more through self-discovery (even with new concepts), they then are more open to it versus traditional lectures.

So while last week’s article focused on why teachers often fall back on lecturing, this week’s recommends that teachers need to help students see the long-term benefits of them actively learning (and grappling) with ideas and concepts.

As both these article show, teacher and student perceptions of the effectiveness of lecturing persists and both need to better understand that while active learning often seems inefficient and time-consuming, it actually supports deeper and lasting learning.

It’s a little like how learned the rules of grammar. As a student, I listened in class, dutifully completed my grammar homework assignments, and managed to pass quizzes and tests, but I never really truly understood the rules and lexicon of grammar, mechanics, and usage; it was more like isolated bits of information rather than a unified whole. But when I began teaching English, I felt the responsibility of truly knowing the what and why of grammar. As a student, grammar never stuck, but when I actively led myself and got perplexed by all those weird rules, exceptions, and inconsistencies, it finally clicked. I don’t know how important it is to know that a predicate nominative is why we should say “It is I”, not “It is me”, but by gosh, I know the reason why!

Joe

For decades, there has been evidence that classroom techniques designed to get students to participate in the learning process produce better educational outcomes at virtually all levels.

And a new Harvard study suggests it may be important to let students know it.

The study shows that, though students felt as if they learned more through traditional lectures, they actually learned more when taking part in classrooms that employed so-called active-learning strategies.

Lead author Louis Deslauriers knew that students would learn more from active learning. He published a key study in Science in 2011 that showed just that. But many students and faculty remained hesitant to switch to it.

“Often, students seemed genuinely to prefer smooth-as-silk traditional lectures,” Deslauriers said. “We wanted to take them at their word. Perhaps they actually felt like they learned more from lectures than they did from active learning.”

The question of whether students’ perceptions of their learning matches with how well they’re actually learning is particularly important, Deslauriers said, because while students eventually see the value of active learning, initially it can feel frustrating.

“Deep learning is hard work. The effort involved in active learning can be misinterpreted as a sign of poor learning,” he said. “On the other hand, a superstar lecturer can explain things in such a way as to make students feel like they are learning more than they actually are.”

To understand that dichotomy, Deslauriers designed an experiment that would expose students in an introductory physics class to both traditional lectures and active learning.

For the first 11 weeks of the 15-week class, students were taught using standard methods by an experienced instructor. In the 12th week, half the class was randomly assigned to a classroom that used active learning, while the other half attended highly polished lectures. In a subsequent class, the two groups were reversed.

Following each class, students were surveyed on how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “I feel like I learned a lot from this lecture” and “I wish all my physics courses were taught this way.” Students were also tested on how much they learned in the class with 12 multiple-choice questions.

When the results were tallied, the authors found that students felt as if they learned more from the lectures, but in fact scored higher on tests following the active learning sessions. “Actual learning and feeling of learning were strongly anticorrelated,” Deslauriers said.

This shouldn’t be interpreted as suggesting students dislike active learning. In fact, many studies have shown students quickly warm to the idea, once they begin to see the results. “In all the courses at Harvard that we’ve transformed to active learning,” Deslauriers said, “the overall course evaluations went up.”

“It can be tempting to engage the class simply by folding lectures into a compelling ‘story,’ especially when that’s what students seem to like. I show my students the data from this study on the first day of class to help them appreciate the importance of their own involvement in active learning.”

Ultimately, Deslauriers said, the study shows that it’s important to ensure that neither instructors nor students are fooled into thinking that lectures are the best learning option. “Students might give fabulous evaluations to an amazing lecturer based on this feeling of learning, even though their actual learning isn’t optimal,” he said. “This could help to explain why study after study shows that student evaluations seem to be completely uncorrelated with actual learning.”

Why Does Teacher Talk Still Dominate the Classroom

This week’s article summary is Why Does Teacher Talk Still Dominate High School Classrooms?

Although the article was written by a high school teacher, the points he brings up pertain to elementary school as well.

Research shows that learning information/knowledge, i.e., storing and being able to quickly retrieve it from long-term memory, is enhanced when we are actively trying to make sense of it for ourselves and connecting it to our prior knowledge/understanding.

So the more students talk and share about information and the more multi-sensory the experiences, the more it will stick in the brain and be learned by students.

Still, many of us (myself included) still fall back on teacher talk/explanation/lecture to teach content (skills, concepts, procedures). Why? Because when we watch our students grapple with new information, it seems inefficient and ineffective. “Let me just explain it to them, already!”

Teachers and parents too often come to our kids’ rescue by providing the answer/direction/explanation when they struggle to understand. The bias we all have is we think our explanation is helping when more often it only guarantees new information fleeting resides in a child’s working memory and not transferred to long-term memory.

I know it’s hard but we need to remind ourselves that learning ultimately requires more internal effort. It can seem inefficient but it’s the grappling that enables knowledge to be stored and remembered in our brains.

Joe

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In high schools, where I work, teacher talk still dominates classrooms.

While we know learning occurs in the time when students make sense of something for themselves, we persist in telling students things for most of the class period, then get frustrated when the new information is not absorbed. 

Brain research tell us direct instruction for grades 9-12 should not exceed 15 minutes, so half a period of teacher talk is largely wasted.

There are some common reasons why teachers wind up talking for long periods, and some alternatives that are better for encouraging a generative learning process.

I talk so my students have all the information they need to do the process or task: Working memory is very finite and more details are being forgotten the longer someone other than the learner is doing the talking and thinking. Consider talking just long enough to demonstrate or highlight key details (under five minutes) or breaking up the information into small chunks with student practice in between. If you have more information than you can easily summarize, it is too much for one lesson, anyway. Consider a step-by-step sheet or a how-to video if you want students to remember more than three details. Giving them a written version of the steps reduces cognitive load.

I talk so my students have all the key information about what I am teaching: Presentations, even ones that are scaffolded and chunked, are a great way to ensure student only "get the gist." Even with good notetaking strategies for summarizing and tools like graphic organizers for content enhancement, only some information is remembered long enough to even be recorded.  In addition, everyone has difficulty retrieving and working with information that was encountered once and not utilized. If you care enough about something to bother to teach it, then you want students to be able to remember and use it. Before explaining a new concept, help students connect to prior knowledge so the new learning has something to attach itself to.  If you describe something, stop in the description in under five minutes and ask your students to do three things: summarize in their own words, state why the information is useful, describe when they will need the information. Engaging in these sense-making activities ensures the information is being understood, but that alone is not enough. Students needed to apply the information minutes after they summarize it in order to be able to use it later. Activities to practice or apply information are essential because they are generative learning processes. Processes with gradual release of responsibility are particularly effective in helping students use and cement new learning.

I talk to be sure my students don't misunderstand: The act of explaining something does provide greater clarity. It also usually results in misconceptions. After every important or difficult concept in a lesson, you need to do a quick check to ensure everyone has understood the key idea and can actually build new knowledge on it. The check should: require everyone to demonstrate what you just explained, be quick, allow you to see any misconceptions at a glance, so you know what to reteach. Doing quick checks for understanding at regular intervals in a lesson is essential to ensure new information is understood correctly, and that misconceptions are not rehearsed into the brain. Tools like hinge questions, mini-white boards, quick games, and sorting activities are especially helpful in giving you good information about what you might need to re-teach. Getting feedback from your students about success of your explanation is a critical step in becoming an expert teacher, because the best teachers welcome and use errors. 

Simple changes to how long teachers talk can have a profound influence on the effectiveness of their instruction. Replacing chunks of your direct instruction with generative processes, formative assessment, and written step-by-steps is an easy way to make a big difference in your students' learning.

Advice for New--and Veteran--Teachers

This week’s article summary is Six Things New Teachers Need to Know.

It’s a great read for those new to teaching but also is a reminder for veteran teachers about the big foci of great teaching.

To me, the truly great and inspiring teachers embody the following qualities: perspective, patience, positivity, empathy, flexibility, humor, clarity of the macro concepts of their grade/discipline, and a commitment to continuous learning.

The article includes many of the above qualities but also reminds us of the importance of establishing a trusting relationship with students and their parents and making sure we always take time to care for ourselves.

As we move into the Labor Day weekend, reaching what I like to call the end of the beginning of school, and embark on the routine of school next week, it’s important for all of us—new and veteran teachers—to keep these critical needs at the forefront of our planning and teaching.

Thank you all for a wonderful start of school from preplanning to last night’s back-to-school night. Enjoy the holiday weekend and as the article’s final piece of advice urges, take some time to pamper yourself over the next few days!

Joe

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When I first started teaching, I had no idea what I was doing. Early on, one of my more experienced colleagues half-jokingly told me to get the addresses all of my students because in 20 years I’d want to write them and say “I hope you turned out OK.”

I didn’t do that, but I did quickly glean where my colleague was coming from with that advice. One of the first lessons I learned is that teaching requires patience, as you may not see results for months or years—and grit. You must roll up your sleeves, roll with punches, and get up every day asking yourself “what is best for the child?” This fundamental question will keep you grounded and heading in the right direction. I learned many other lessons along the way, of course, and I share some of the most critical ones for new teachers here.

Play the long game: You’re going to have to fake it until you make it, at least for the first few years. Not only is there a lot to learn about teaching and your students, but there is also so much to learn about working with parents, administrators, and colleagues, particularly in the independent school environment. Appear confident even if you feel unsure. Even veteran teachers falter and doubt themselves, so don’t expect to have all the answers right away. If a parent asks you a tough question, tell them you will do some research and get back to them. Then, seek guidance if you need it.

Work backward: Ask yourself, “What do I want my students to learn today?” Establish that concept as a goal and work backward from there when designing a lesson. Consider using exit tickets—index cards on which students write what they learned. Review these at the end of the day to see if you hit the mark and achieved your goal. You may think that all students understand your lesson because no one ever responds when you ask if there are any questions. You’ll know from your exit tickets who is consistently not understanding the lesson. Go directly to those students and in a one-on-one setting ask some clarifying questions to check for understanding. As you design lessons, remember that children, especially those who struggle with auditory processing, cannot process verbiage if there is too much of it. Figure out the basics of the lesson, then add on if, and when, you can.

Remember to take breaks: Are your students on their knees, rocking back in their chairs, kicking shoes off? They probably need to move. Children can generally sit about their age plus two minutes. For example, every 10 minutes or so do a quick brain break for 8-year-olds. Brain breaks promote learning. If you don’t give kids a chance to move, they will find a way to move on their own. As you go through the curriculum, don’t forget about “teachable moments.” Those will happen when you least expect them. I remember after a really hard rain, the class was walking on the sidewalk and noticing—and trying not to step on—all the worms. We stopped and wondered why they were all out there. We went back to the classroom and researched it as a class and found that worms will come out from underground after a rainstorm so they don’t drown underground where all the water accumulates. This led to more interesting questions about worms, which we further researched, and to my students imploring others to watch where they stepped after it rained.
          
Don’t be afraid to discipline: You are the CEO (chief emotional officer) of your classroom. Note positive behavior from across the class and call it out. Students will want to emulate that behavior. If and when you need to discipline a child, do so privately. Sit side-by-side when talking to children. They will hear you better than a face-to-face conversation, especially when disciplining. If you communicate head-on, most will either become defiant or shut down. Set classroom rules that make you and your students feel good. Don’t follow another teacher’s discipline plan if it doesn’t fit your style. Kids like to know how far they can push the envelope and which actions will elicit what kind of response from you. Kids would rather be praised than punished, but they would rather be punished than ignored. Sometimes their errant behavior is just a call to be noticed. There is comfort for all in knowing the basic rules and consequences.

Connect with parents: Early in the year send parents good-news emails. When you see or meet with parents, ask, “How do you think things are going?” It’s especially important to connect with parents who have a struggling learner. You will discover the stages of grief a parent may be in if their child has difficulties—express compassion and appreciation for their child. Parents usually want to know one basic thing: that teachers know and love their child. They want a great curriculum, but it is secondary to you knowing their child. During parent–teacher conferences, ask them to start with any concerns, comments, or celebrations. You might think that the conference will go one way and instead find that parents have other fundamental questions. You want the parent to leave the conference feeling heard and understood.

Be kind to yourself: Teaching requires energy. Eat well, get a good night’s sleep, sing in the morning to get your voice ready, breathe deeply, and know that you most likely will be tired for the first few weeks of a new school year—or more. Sometimes, leave the work at school: Make sure to pamper yourself, take a walk, get a massage, work out, meditate, and go out with friends. The most important things to always remember are: trust your gut, lead with your heart, rely on your training, and enjoy yourself.